The Applicant has developed a wide range of printers that employ pagewidth printheads instead of traditional reciprocating printhead designs. Pagewidth designs increase print speeds as the printhead does not traverse back and forth across the page to deposit a line of an image. The pagewidth printhead simply deposits the ink on the media as it moves past at high speeds. Such printheads have made it possible to perform full colour 1600 dpi printing at speeds in the vicinity of 60 pages per minute, speeds previously unattainable with conventional inkjet printers.
Printing at these speeds consumes ink quickly and this gives rise to problems with supplying the printhead with enough ink. Not only are the flow rates higher but distributing the ink along the entire length of a pagewidth printhead is more complex than feeding ink to a relatively small reciprocating printhead.
The printer and the cartridge both need shut-off valves to seal the ink lines while the coupling is disengaged. For user convenience, it is important that the printer valve and cartridge valve actuate each other by opening upon engagement and closing upon disengagement. However, ink caught between the seal of the cartridge valve and the seal of the printer valve will pin itself to the external features of the separating valves. Residual ink on the printer valve is generally not an issue for users. However, residual ink on the cartridge valve can drip off as the cartridge is moved or placed elsewhere. Obviously, these drops of ink can be inconvenient for users.